Guys, I really am so so sorry about not updating. But the circumstances came back, and I found out that I may or may not have been on the wifi when I technically wasn't supposed to be the last time I updated.

So, an explanation is in order. Those of you who have been with me for the longest probably remember the other three times that our wifi went all wacko and I couldn't update for a few days to a week. Yeah, well, something like that is happening again-a mysterious someone is using a bunch of data all at once, and my dad is now completely sure that it's one of us, and that they're lying to him about it because they don't want to get in trouble. Which is understandable, my dad can be scary, especially when he's mad.

And, no, the mysterious someone is not me.

So, anyway, this means that my dad is now turning off the wifi unless someone really needs it to do something super important, like my sister doing some online thing for college. Which is why I haven't been updating, because it only qualifies as a super important thing to me, and not to anyone else in my family.

The updates will probably be pretty irregular for a while now because of that, but I've managed to convince my mom, at least, that updating is super important and should be allowed. So I can turn on the wifi most days to go ahead and update as long as I turn it off afterwards. Still, though, don't expect the updates to get too regular any time soon-at least not until the end of this week. And I probably won't be able to update this Saturday, either, because it's my sister's graduation party.

Okay, now, on topic: Thanks to everyone, again. I think I'm just going to keep repeating that every chapter now. And to those who asked if I'm okay, if anything's wrong-yes, and not with me. And thank you very, very much for your concern.

Because of my recent absence and the almost certain promise of more irregularity in the near future, I'm going to double update for you today, even though I'm nowhere near 2000 reviews. THAT'S STILL THE GOAL, OKAY, EVERYONE? But the fact that I've been able to write but not update has made it so that I'm pretty ahead on writing, so I'm going to double update.

Has everyone seen the cover for Blood of Olympus? Man, that thing is AWESOME. But I haven't gotten a super close look at it; my tablet's screen sucks. So I don't know for sure-are Percy and Annabeth missing, or did I just not see them? And I don't think Piper and Leo are there either...It just shows Jason, Hazel, and Frank. Is anyone else slightly concerned about that?

Chapter LXXIII

Piper

Before now, Piper's never had many real friends. She was constantly changing schools, and with her dad being who he was...well, she never really got the opportunity.

Then she met Jason and Leo-and they became her friends, although Jason eventually became more than that. But as great as they are, they're not girl friends. There are certain things she can't talk to them about.

But now she has Annabeth, and Hazel-and having two great girl friends is pretty cool.

She grins at them both, knowing she probably looks totally goofy but not caring the least little bit.

Over Annabeth's shoulder, she catches a glimpse of the sky outside the window, and it surprised to see that the sun is already starting to set.

"Hey, guys," She starts. "It's getting dark outside already."

Annabeth and Hazel both twist to look out the window in surprise, confirming what she said.

"Do you think the boys will be back soon?" Hazel asks, looking to Annabeth.

"It depends." She replies. "If they don't get distracted, sidetracked, or attacked by monsters, then yes."

"Slim chance of that." Piper grumbles. But she can't help but become excited at the hope that they'd be back soon.

"I'm actually kind of surprised we haven't been attacked by monsters by now." Annabeth says, looking thoughtfully out the window. "We've been asleep for hours."

"Maybe Leo set up an automatic security system." Piper suggests jokingly. "Anything hostile that comes within twenty feet goes boom." She makes an explosion gesture with her hands, mimicking Leo in one of his goofiest moods.

"I hope not." Hazel replies, smiling. "Knowing Leo's inventions, it'd either malfunction and turn on us or blow up the ship."

Piper grins. "It'd probably be more likely for it to blow up. He seems to have a strange addiction to it."

"Blowing things up is fun." Annabeth defends. Then she grins. "Unless they're national monuments, or Mount Olympus-so, blowing up monsters is fun."

"What do you mean by national monuments?" Piper asks suspiciously.

Annabeth laughs. "It's a long story. But the short version is that Percy got attacked by a monster on our first quest while he was at the top of the St. Louis Arch-and he may or may not have caused an enormous hole to be burnt in the side of it, through which he jumped and fell over 600 feet into the river below."

Piper gapes at Annabeth for a second, and then grins, because she can completely believe it of Percy. He's such a goofball.

"He mentioned that once, on our quest to Alaska." Hazel comments thoughtfully. "He didn't tell us the story, or anything, but after he fell off the iceberg, and we were asking how he was alive, he just said, 'The fall? That was nothing. I fell twice that far from the St. Louis Arch.'"

Annabeth shakes her head in mock exasperation. "He wasn't so cool about it when it happened, trust me."

"Annabeth, your boyfriend is an idiot." Piper tells her friend. "No offense, or anything." She adds quickly.

Annabeth just smiles. "No, you're right, he's an idiot. But he's my idiot."

They sit in companionable silence for a bit after that, just thinking. From the far away, half-amused expression on Annabeth's face, Piper would guess she's thinking about Percy, and Hazel...she has a broody, thoughtful look, so maybe about her past, or her powers.

Piper is thinking about Percy, the same as Annabeth, although definitely not in the same way. She remembers her initial reaction to him-that he looked unimpressive, compared to Jason.

Hasn't changed much in that department. She thinks amusedly. To her, Percy would always look unimpressive compared to Jason. But on his own...she'd gained a lot of respect for him. He'd done a lot on the quest, especially once they got to Rome-but above all, he'd fallen into Tartarus with Annabeth so that they wouldn't be separated.

Finally, Piper sighs, breaking the silence and startling the others out of their thoughts. "We should probably wake Leo up and get on deck. You know, act productive. Or something."

"Personally, I'd prefer the 'or something,' but you're right." Annabeth replies. "Just be careful when you wake Leo up, I don't want him to catch the sheets on fire."

Piper suppresses a smile. "I'll try my best." She's the one sitting closest to Leo, and she's his closest friend on the ship besides Jason, so it makes sense for her to be the one to wake him up. Although she's kind of surprised-usually he's not such a heavy sleeper. He normally would've been up already.

She leans over him and shakes his shoulder gently with her left hand-careful not to use her sword arm; it's still sore from the gash that stupid flying deer gave her.

"Leo." She calls softly. "Time to wake up."

"Mmmm." Is his only reply.

Piper rolls her eyes and shakes him harder. "Come on, Leo. Get up."

"Mmmmmm." He says in protest.

Piper sighs and looks at the other girls, who are both suppressing amused smiles. She's on the verge of just yelling in Leo's ear when she gets a better idea.

She gestures to Annabeth to move sideways, and then shoves Leo's chest hard, ignoring the twinge of pain in her right arm and rolling him off the edge of the bed.

Leo hits the floor with a crash, and immediately sits up, eyes half-closed and his curly hair sticking out crazily from his head in all directions like some wacked-up halo. He looks up and sees Piper looking down at him.

"Piper." He whines. "What'd you do that for? I was having a good dream."

"It's time to get up, Sleeping Beauty." Piper tells him. "Honestly, you'd think you were the one who got injured by flying deer."

Leo closes his eyes and lays back on the floor, where he then hits his head on the hard boards. "Ow." He groans.

Piper, Annabeth, and Hazel all laugh at him, and his eyes pop open to stare up at them. He grins after a few seconds of watching them, and Piper is happy to see some of the familiar twinkle back in his eyes.

Piper stands up after her laughter dies down, still grinning, and swoops down to grab his wrist and yank him to his feet-with her left arm, of course. "Come on, Repair Boy, we need to go up on deck. Actually do something. Be productive. Work on...something."

Leo wrinkles his nose. "I'm allergic to work."

"Then what do you call it when you're down in the engine room, fiddling with machinery and trying to blow things up?" Piper asks.

"That isn't work. That's a hobby." Leo answers dismissively.

"What about building the Argo II? You can't say that was a hobby." Piper argues.

"Why not?" Leo protests stubbornly. "Besides, that was necessary. And you can't tell me that building a Celestial Bronze warship with a bunch of super cool secret weapons isn't fun."

"Maybe to you." Piper tells him. "And I, for one, did not think it was fun when Buford ran away and we got chased by crazy maenads trying to get him back."

"Oh, come on." Leo protests. "You can't hold that against me! It wasn't my fault the maenads were in the woods!"

Hazel looks confusedly between them. "What are you two talking about?"

Piper glances at her. "Trust me, you don't want to know. And the maenads are not people you want to meet."

Leo scratches his chin. "I don't know, they might be fun at a party. You know, if you only invited people you didn't like."

Piper gapes at him.

"What?" He asks uncomfortably.

Piper just shakes her head. "You're insane, Leo."

He brightens considerably and grins. "So I'm told."

"Whatever, Leo. Let's just go up on deck already." She's about to start out the room when a low growling, gurgling sound stops her. She turns back to the others in confusion.

Annabeth is hugging her stomach in embarassment. "Um, maybe we should eat first."

"That was your stomach?" Piper asks incredulously.

Annabeth nods, blushing. "I'm hungry." She says defensively. "I didn't eat that much at lunch."

Leo raises his hand. "I'm hungry too."

Now that she thought about it, Piper was a little hungry too...

She sighs. "Okay."

"Does this mean we get to go to the mess hall and procrastinate working for even longer?" Leo asks.

"Yes, Leo, it does." Piper answers, rolling her eyes up at the ceiling.

He scrambles to the door, and then turns back to grin goofily at them. "Come on, then, slowpokes, what are you waiting for?"

Then he turns and bounds down the hall.

Piper, Annabeth, and Hazel all roll their eyes simultaneously before giggling and following him up the stairs.

At the doorway, Piper pauses to look back at the window, at the darkening sky outside.

Hurry up, Jason. She thinks.

Yes, Jason, hurry up.

Next chapter, ironically (or not, since I planned it), is Jason's POV. There will be fighting, in which you finally find out what that monster is, and then, after that, it's Percy's POV, in which an old character will be visiting. Well, technically, they visit the character. Whatever.

I love you, don't call Echidna an anteater, running with scissors is a bad idea (so running with swords is even worse, right?), and deer are vicious, cannibalistic creatures you want to stay away from.